L300 Sliding door - Lock Stuck!

[VirtualJJ]

It's always been a bit tricky, and required a bit of wiggling to get the knob up (insert terrible joke here)

But now it won't come up at all. (yes, you can put one here too :) )

but seriously, the key won't raise the lock button, and pulling on it only gets it halfway up, which is not enough to disengage the lock. Something seems to be preventing the movement.

Is this a common problem? It's seriously limiting, not to mention frustrating, to not have a working side door...

[Firesong]

This might seem silly but try this:
Lock your van with the key on the driver door
Unlock the van again with the driver door.

I've found sometimes it takes a couple times but that
will unlock the side door where physical manipulation and
the key in the lock (of the sliding door) won't work.

Can't hurt to try it.

FS

[after oil]

its not that big of a deal to remove the interior trim on the door. you can then get at the lock mechanisms and spray them with WD40 or what have you.
be gentle with the trim or the tabs will tear it. it might be worth your while to get the right tool to remove the trim...

[thelazygreenfox]

Virtual
The door may not lock or unlock if it's not in a fully closed position. Check out the rear of the door and if it sticks out in the rear it's not fully closed.

Push it into a closed position and try again.

Try the slider door handle to open the door and manually open and close the door button.

Wayne
TLGF

[VirtualJJ]

Yeah, we tried the "remote unlock" using the driver door; it used to be a part of the many-step process of getting it unstuck, but nothing seems to work anymore.

AfterOil, what tool is this which you speak of? I would like to try a few interior modifications, and having the right tool around would be awsome. If it is some sort of specialized tool, how do I get a hold of one?

This is probably a process we need to do sooner rather than later, as the plastic will be geting brittle due to the oncominig cold....

[FalcoColumbarius]

Plastic Rivet Removal Tool.

[NAKAMI]

its not that big of a deal to remove the interior trim on the door. you can then get at the lock mechanisms and spray them with WD40 or what have you.
be gentle with the trim or the tabs will tear it. it might be worth your while to get the right tool to remove the trim...

This is the best way to do. I had such a problem and it was solved in this way.

[after oil]

Plastic Rivet Removal Tool.

thank you falco

[VirtualJJ]

Forgive my ignorance here, but is this something you could get at, say, Canadian Tire? or would I need to try a more specialty-type place?

PS - No Lordcos 'round here....

[Blackberry]

When I took delivery of my L300 I had the same issue. I was able to get it to work by spraying lots of WD-40 (or equiv.) in all the nooks/crannies around the lock mechanism and pulling/pushing up/down repeatedly on the sliding door's lock knob and activating it over and over using the key in the driver's door (best to get a helper and do both at the same time)...as well as the key in the sliding door. Eventually it came free. Didn't need to remove the panel.

[VirtualJJ]

We have tried the WD40 trick, and used to have several other tricks, incantations and rituals that would work from time to time, but the situation has gotten worse and worse, and is now at the fully stuck position.

We're in town to do some shopping on the weekend.. hopefully we'll find a place with a rivet popper.

[fexlboi]

hopefully we'll find a place with a rivet popper.

A long, large flathead screw driver does the job as well.

[Morganizer]

I had that same problem with my L300 last week: key wouldn't unlock the sliding door. Key in the driver's door unlocked everything except the sliding door. I reached in and pulled up the knob, no problem (guess it liked me better).

I took apart the door to figure out the problem (could have used that tool, darnit), and everything seemed to be working fine. I pulled the knob on the driver's door to activate the central locking system, and the lock on the sliding door locked and unlocked.

WTF?!! Okay, try a few things. Noticed that the sliding door lock only works when the door is closed. Hm...has to be some interlock switch to prevent it from operating when the door is ajar/open. If this switch failed/were intermittent, sliding door lock would stay put while others were actuated. Might even stick half way so the key couldn't work it.

Is the interlock the same switch that turns on the cabin lights? Shoved a brake fluid bottle between it and the door (so I could pull the knob on the driver's door; my arm's not that long). With the door switch pressed (lights out), and the door ajar, the lock still doesn't operate. Must be another interlock switch somewhere...

What about this pair of brass contacts on the door frame, hm? The ones that have white corrosion all over them? Hm?

Cleaned them off with a little sand paper, smeared some Vaseline (okay, cut the jokes already) to keep them clean. Lock works every time!

NOW: I notice that if I work the driver's door knob up and down several times in succession to test the locks, they s-l-o-w d-o-w-n and the one on the sliding door stops first. Wait 30 seconds and they recover. Does this mean the actuator in my sliding door is on its last legs? Was the interlock switch failure just an early warning sign that the door lock system is nearly pooched?

Since I had everything open, I sprayed WD-40 on anything that moved.

[nxski]

I have a similar situation with mine. It doesn't unlock on the first try (for the most part) but unlocks on the second. No idea what the cause is and I'm not too worried about it but I'd be interested to see if it's an easy fix.

[Growlerbearnz]

There's no interlock as such on the sliding door- those brass contacts are how the power gets to the door lock, if the door's not closed the contacts don't contact and the lock doesn't get any power. Devilishly simple.

Last time my door locks ran slowly it was due to gunk (ok, dried coca-cola spill) gumming up the actual plastic lock knob. Try unscrewing and removing the knob so there's just he threaded wire rod poking out and see if it locks/unlocks any faster. That'll at least tell you if the problem is with the knob or with the actual lock mechanism deeper in the door.